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Innovators from HEINEKEN, Google and Woolworths to Discuss Strategies to Exceed Customer Expectations at JDA FocusConnect 2017 London

Innovators from HEINEKEN, Google and Woolworths to Discuss Strategies to Exceed Customer Expectations at JDA FocusConnect 2017 London

JDA’s annual EMEA customer conference features more than 30 customers speaking about the power of their digital transformations and leveraging edge technologies to help exceed customer expectations

Scottsdale, Ariz. –
October 10, 2017 –

JDA Software Group, Inc.today announced its keynote speakers and customer presenters for JDA FocusConnect 2017, scheduled for November 13-15 at the London Intercontinental Hotel at The O2 Arena in London, England. More than 500 supply chain professionals across retail, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and logistics industries will gather at JDA’s annual customer conference for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

JDA FocusConnect 2017 highlights how some of the world’s most admired companies are reimagining their current business processes to create real competitive advantage by shortening their supply chains and delivering more efficiently to their end-customers. JDA FocusConnect will also highlight how JDA clients can elevate their customer experience by embracing digital transformation. Now more than ever, JDA’s solutions portfolio is harnessing the power of advanced data, analytics and machine learning capabilities to enable companies to streamline their supply chains, increase speed to market and create superior customer experiences and competitive advantage.

“We are on the precipice of unprecedented disruption in the supply chain. Never have supply chain leaders been confronted with such a massive technological transformation simultaneously – from the Internet of Things to big data, to predictive analytics and cognitive learning – companies have an array of innovation at hand to increase their competitive advantage while shortening their supply chains and increasing the speed to execution,” said Franck Lheureux, regional vice president, sales, EMEA, JDA. “Today’s shoppers and customers have expectations of immediacy and JDA is uniquely capable of helping our clients meet and exceed those real-time expectations. JDA FocusConnect will highlight customer and industry thought leaders discussing their digital strategies as a differentiator and value-add to the end-consumer. We look forward to hosting a lively dialogue with our global customers and partners.”

Over the course of three days, representatives from more than 30 JDA customers will discuss their supply chain strategies and how it creates competitive advantages for their businesses. JDA FocusConnect is sponsored by more than two dozen companies including Athena Retail and Cognizant (Platinum), Accenture, Ágora Europe, Centiro Solutions, REPL, SATO and TCS (Gold) – and more (see entire list of sponsors here).

Johan Smits, Director Global Planning, HEINEKEN: Johan Smits started his career working with a Strategy and Change Management consultancy, focused on Supply Chain transformations in FMGC. In 2000, he started to support the HEINEKEN Global Executive Team to run their Global Programme Portfolio Management organization and Financial Management – putting Strategy into Action. After that he held various Senior Operational Supply Chain roles in the Dutch and International Export organization, also managing the E2E Supply chain and Planning/S&OP. Since 2011 he has been responsible for HEINEKEN’s Global S&OP expansion and became the Senior Manager for Global Planning, part of the Global Customer Service & Logistics leadership team. Under his leadership HEINEKEN has moved up to global expansion of Integrated Business Planning, and high maturity across the globe.

Scott Penberthy, Director, Applied AI, Google:In his role at Google, Scott Penberthy leads a team of AI engineers and Ph.D.s who help VIPs reimagine the production of goods and services and how value is exchanged in free markets. His team applies current and upcoming AI technologies to materialize proofs of concept and drive long-term transformations. Prior to this role, Penberthy was a Technical Director in the Office of the CTO, a group at Google dedicated to helping customers thrive in the world of cloud computing. Penberthy kept one foot in the AI labs of Silicon Valley, the other in Wall Street and board rooms.

Cameron Webb, General Manager Information Technology - Product and Value Chain, Woolworths Limited: Cameron Webb is responsible for all technology activities associated within the Group, which includes iconic Australian brands such as Woolworths Supermarkets, Countdown Supermarkets (NZ), Big W, BWS and Dan Murphy’s. Based on revenue, Woolworths is one of the world’s largest retailers with over 3,000 stores and almost 190,000+ employees across Australia and New Zealand. Webb is an experienced retail technology executive with a proven background in Business transformation delivering sustainable business improvement through structured change programs both inside and outside of Woolworths. Cameron has a strong retail operations background and this coupled with his technical experience positions him well to deliver value through technology at Woolworths.

Girish Rishi, Chief Executive Officer, JDA: Girish Rishi joined JDA in January 2017 from Tyco International, where he was responsible for the firm’s global retail solutions business and North America building automation business, which had more than $4 billion in annual revenue. Prior to his role at Tyco, Rishi was senior vice president for the Enterprise division of Motorola Solutions where he transitioned the portfolio to new application frameworks that delivered a compelling user experience.

Desikan Madhavanur, Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer, JDA: Desikan Madhavanur is responsible for the company’s product solution strategy, with a charter to invest in and develop JDA’s current market-leading solutions in the areas of planning, execution and retail while harnessing the collective power of cloud, IoT, analytics and big data to bring new solutions to market that deliver real-time, actionable insights and customer value. Madhavanur joined JDA from CA Technologies, where he served as Senior Vice President and Business Center head for Data Center Orchestration.

In addition to leading-edge presentations, JDA will host a bevy of interactive workshops, educational sessions and Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings. With more than 40 sessions in eight content tracks, JDA FocusConnect offers topics that are relevant to every supply chain professional. In addition, networking events and SIG sessions will provide ample opportunities for knowledge sharing and peer networking.

JDA Software is the leading supply chain provider powering today’s digital transformation. We enable companies to improve their ability to plan, execute and deliver by better predicting and shaping demand, fulfilling more intelligently and quickly, and improving customer experiences and loyalty. More than 4,000 global customers use our unmatched end-to-end solutions portfolio to shorten their supply chains, increase speed of execution and profitably deliver to their customers. Our world-class client roster includes 72 of the top 100 retailers, 71 of the top 100 consumer goods companies, and 13 of the top 16 3PLs. Running JDA, you can plan to deliver. www.jda.com

“JDA” is a trademark or registered trademark of JDA Software Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “JDA” is a trademark and/or property of JDA Software Group, Inc.